1. “An Evolving Situation”
There are three moments in the yearlong catastrophe of the
COVID-19 pandemic when events might have turned out differently. The first occurred on January 3, 2020, when Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, spoke with George Fu Gao, the head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, which was modelled on the American institution. Redfield had just received a report about an unexplained respiratory virus emerging in the city of Wuhan.
The field of public health had long been haunted by the prospect of a widespread respiratory-illness outbreak like the 1918 influenza pandemic, so Redfield was concerned. Gao, when pressed, assured him that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission. At the time, the theory was that each case had arisen from animals in a “wet” market where exotic game was sold. When Redfield learned that, among twenty-seven reported cases, there were several famil
Laganside Court in Belfast 18 December, 2020 01:00
A PATIENT who punched and head-butted another man in a Belfast hospital has been jailed for three months.
Prosecutors said Marcus Creighton also inflicted further blows while the victim was on the ground.
The 28-year-old, of Lenadoon Avenue in the city, pleaded guilty to common assault and disorderly behaviour.
Belfast Magistrates Court heard police called to the Royal Victoria Hospital on October 15 this year discovered two men being separated by security staff and members of the public.
Creighton had attacked the injured party following a row which left onlookers upset and alarmed, according to a Crown lawyer.